A Cidade e as Serras

Biblioteca Ulisseia de Autores Portugueses #5

José Maria de Eça de Queiroz (Póvoa de Varzim, 25 de novembro de 1845 — Neuilly-sur-Seine, 16 de agosto de 1900), escritor e ensaísta, foi um dos nomes mais importantes da literatura portuguesa. De nome completo José Maria de Eça de Queirós na......more

Biblioteca Ulisseia de Autores Portugueses #5

José Maria de Eça de Queiroz (Póvoa de Varzim, 25 de novembro de 1845 — Neuilly-sur-Seine, 16 de agosto de 1900), escritor e ensaísta, foi um dos nomes mais importantes da literatura portuguesa. De nome completo José Maria de Eça de Queirós nasceu a Novembro de 1845, numa casa na Praça do Almada, em Póvoa de Varzim. O seu pai, José Maria de Almeida de Teixeira de Queirós, nascido no Brasil e vindo para Portugal com um ano de idade, provinha de uma família de magistrados perseguidos pelos seus ideais liberais que defendiam uma doutrina constitucional. Eça foi internado no Colégio da Lapa, no Porto, de onde saiu em 1861, com dezasseis anos, para a Universidade de Coimbra, onde estudou Direito. Num ambiente boémio da cidade universitária de Coimbra estes jovens reuniam-se para trocar ideias, livros e formas para renovar a vida política e cultural portuguesa, que estava a viver uma autêntica revolução social com a introdução dos novos meios de transportes ferroviários que traziam, todos os dias, novidades do centro da Europa, influenciando esta geração para novas ideologias e valores. Foi nesse grupo que Eça conheceu os futuros escritores e poetas, Teófilo Braga, Ramalho Ortigão, Guerra Junqueiro, Guilherme de Azevedo, Oliveira Martins, entre outros; mas sobretudo, foi aí que travou amizade com Antero de Quental, um jovem carismático a quem os membros do grupo chamavam de líder e que incentivou os restantes a seguir e a difundir as então recentes correntes ideológicas e literárias europeias: o Positivismo, o Socialismo e o Realismo-Naturalismo. Notabilizou-se pela originalidade e riqueza do seu estilo e linguagem, nomeadamente pelo realismo descritivo e pela crítica social constantes nos seus romances mas, tal como o crítico literário, Jacinto Prado Coelho disse: "foi mais analista social do que psicólogo; ironizou Portugal porque muito o amava e o queria melhor."(less)

José Maria Eça de Queirós was a novelist committed to social reform who introduced Naturalism and Realism to Portugal. He is often considered to be the greatest Portuguese novelist, certainly the leading 19th-century Portuguese novelist whose fame was international. The son of a prominent magistrate......more

José Maria Eça de Queirós was a novelist committed to social reform who introduced Naturalism and Realism to Portugal. He is often considered to be the greatest Portuguese novelist, certainly the leading 19th-century Portuguese novelist whose fame was international. The son of a prominent magistrate, Eça de Queiroz spent his early years with relatives and was sent to boarding school at the age of five. After receiving his degree in law in 1866 from the University of Coimbra, where he read widely French, he settled in Lisbon. There his father, who had since married Eça de Queiroz' mother, made up for past neglect by helping the young man make a start in the legal profession. Eça de Queiroz' real interest lay in literature, however, and soon

José Maria Eça de Queirós was a novelist committed to social reform who introduced Naturalism and Realism to Portugal. He is often considered to be the greatest Portuguese novelist, certainly the leading 19th-century Portuguese novelist whose fame was international. The son of a prominent magistrate, Eça de Queiroz spent his early years with relatives and was sent to boarding school at the age of five. After receiving his degree in law in 1866 from the University of Coimbra, where he read widely French, he settled in Lisbon. There his father, who had since married Eça de Queiroz' mother, made up for past neglect by helping the young man make a start in the legal profession. Eça de Queiroz' real interest lay in literature, however, and soon his short stories - ironic, fantastic, macabre, and often gratuitously shocking - and essays on a wide variety of subjects began to appear in the "Gazeta de Portugal". By 1871 he had become closely associated with a group of rebellious Portuguese intellectuals committed to social and artistic reform and known as the Generation of '70. Eça de Queiroz gave one of a series of lectures sponsored by the group in which he denounced contemporary Portuguese literature as unoriginal and hypocritical. He served as consul, first in Havana (1872-74), then in England, UK - in Newcastle upon Tyne (1874-79) and in Bristol (1879-88). During this time he wrote the novels for which he is best remembered, attempting to bring about social reform in Portugal through literature by exposing what he held to be the evils and the absurdities of the traditional order. His first novel, "O crime do Padre Amaro" (1875; "The Sin of Father Amaro", 1962), describes the destructive effects of celibacy on a priest of weak character and the dangers of fanaticism in a provincial Portuguese town. A biting satire on the romantic ideal of passion and its tragic consequences appears in his next novel, "O Primo Basílio" (1878; "Cousin Bazilio", 1953). Caustic satire characterizes the novel that is generally considered Eça de Queiroz' masterpiece, "Os Maias (1888; "The Maias", 1965), a detailed depiction of upper middle-class and aristocratic Portuguese society. His last novels are sentimental, unlike his earlier work. "A Cidade e as Serras" (1901; "The City and the Mountains", 1955) extols the beauty of the Portuguese countryside and the joys of rural life. Eça de Queiroz was appointed consul in Paris in 1888, where he served until his death. Of his posthumously published works, "Contos" (1902) is a collection of short stories, and "Últimas Páginas" (1912) includes saints' legends. Translations of his works persisted into the second half of the 20th century.

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